Posted by Orin Kerr:
Gallup Poll Suggests Continuing Strong Support For the Death Penalty in U.S.:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_10_14-2007_10_20.shtml#1192467644
[1]Gallup's latest poll on American support for the death penalty has
some very interesting results.
When asked, "Are you in favor of the death penalty for a person
convicted of murder?," 69% of respondents replied "yes" and 27%
replied no. That matches up with results from a May Gallup poll on the
morality of the death penalty: in that poll, 66% said that that the
death penalty was morally acceptable, 27% said that it was morally
wrong, and 5% said it depended on the circumstances.
I was particularly interested in the results of the more specific
poll question on whether the death penalty was imposed too often, not
often enough, or about as often as it should be. The results: 49% said
it should be imposed more often, 21% said it was imposed too often
already, and 26% said it was imposed about as often as it should be.
(There are various ways to understand the slightly different numbers
among the different questions; one possibility is that the question,
"Are you in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of
murder?" is interpreted by some respondents as being a preference for
capital punishment for all murderers rather than just some.)
For more discussion of the poll, see [2]Crime & Consequences and
[3]Sentencing Law & Policy.
References
1. http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=29014
2.
http://www.crimeandconsequences.com/2007/10/public_support_for_dp_up_sligh_1.html
3.
http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2007/10/persistent-stro.html
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